TY - JOUR
T1 - Carbon-supported co-pyridine as non-platinum cathode catalyst for alkaline membrane fuel cells
AU - Qiao, Jinli
AU - Xu, Li
AU - Liu, Yuyu
AU - Xu, Pan
AU - Shi, Jingjing
AU - Liu, Shiyao
AU - Tian, Binglun
PY - 2013/4/30
Y1 - 2013/4/30
N2 - Development of high-performance cost-effective electrocatalyts that can replace Pt catalyst have been a central theme in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) including direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Here we show that carbon-supported pyridine-cobalt nanoparticles (CoPy/C) can generate a high catalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The catalysts are synthesized using cobalt sulfate heptahydrate (CoSO4· 7H2O) and pyridine (Py) as the Co and N precursors via a solid state reaction by heat-treatment in an inert atmosphere at 800 °C. In particular, the ORR kinetics on these catalyst materials are evaluated using rotating disk electrode (RDE) technique in electrolytes of various KOH concentrations, ranging from 0.05 to 12 M. The Koutecky-Levich equation analyses indicate that the transferred electron number, n, per oxygen molecule on CoPy/C electrode depend on the low negative ovevrpotentials in low KOH concentrations, whereas in high KOH concentrations the values of n for oxygen reduction depend on the high negative overpotentials, and varies between 3.5 and 4.0. These catalysts exhibit the superior methanol tolerance to commercial 40%Pt/C catalyst, and the negative effect of high KOH concentration is much less for CoPy/C than for Pt/C, suggesting the promising utilization of CoPy/C as electrocatalysts for alkaline polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.
AB - Development of high-performance cost-effective electrocatalyts that can replace Pt catalyst have been a central theme in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) including direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Here we show that carbon-supported pyridine-cobalt nanoparticles (CoPy/C) can generate a high catalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The catalysts are synthesized using cobalt sulfate heptahydrate (CoSO4· 7H2O) and pyridine (Py) as the Co and N precursors via a solid state reaction by heat-treatment in an inert atmosphere at 800 °C. In particular, the ORR kinetics on these catalyst materials are evaluated using rotating disk electrode (RDE) technique in electrolytes of various KOH concentrations, ranging from 0.05 to 12 M. The Koutecky-Levich equation analyses indicate that the transferred electron number, n, per oxygen molecule on CoPy/C electrode depend on the low negative ovevrpotentials in low KOH concentrations, whereas in high KOH concentrations the values of n for oxygen reduction depend on the high negative overpotentials, and varies between 3.5 and 4.0. These catalysts exhibit the superior methanol tolerance to commercial 40%Pt/C catalyst, and the negative effect of high KOH concentration is much less for CoPy/C than for Pt/C, suggesting the promising utilization of CoPy/C as electrocatalysts for alkaline polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.
KW - Alkaline concentration effect
KW - Carbon-supported Co-pyridine
KW - Methanol tolerance
KW - Oxygen reduction reaction
KW - Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
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U2 - 10.1016/j.electacta.2013.02.030
DO - 10.1016/j.electacta.2013.02.030
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876069371
VL - 96
SP - 298
EP - 305
JO - Electrochimica Acta
JF - Electrochimica Acta
SN - 0013-4686
ER -